As Donald Trump Refuses To Give In, Major Republicans Are Silent On US Election Results

When President Donald Trump refused to admit defeat on Saturday, top leaders in the Republican Congress followed suit, refraining from releasing the customary congratulatory statements to the winner that have been customary among senior lawmakers from both parties when they have declared presidential election.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Saturday refused to acknowledge Biden’s victory, and an aide instead pointed to reporters a generic “count all votes” statement that McConnell released on Friday before that the results were known.

In that statement, posted on Twitter as Trump pre-emptively contested the election result, McConnell had described “how this should work in our great country.”

“Every legal vote must be counted,” he said. “Any ballot sent illegally should not do so. All parties must come to observe the process. And the courts are here to enforce the laws and resolve disputes.

“This is how the votes of the Americans decide the outcome,” he said.

His silence on Saturday came as other Republican leaders also kept quiet about the results and some openly questioned it.

“The election will not end until all legal votes are counted and certified,” Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the second-ranked Republican, said on Twitter. “There are still serious legal challenges that have arisen and until that process is resolved, the election is not final. The American people deserve a fair and transparent process. “

The reactions suggested that Republicans on Capitol Hill, who have spent four years clinging tightly to Trump or at least avoided publicly countering him out of fear of provoking an angry tweet, were sticking to those approaches even after his loss.

In the weeks leading up to the election, when Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, some Republicans, including McConnell, gently backed off without directly berating the president, making it clear that if he lost, they expected him to do so. Meet the results.

“The winner of the November 3 election will be inaugurated on January 20,” McConnell said at the time. “There will be an orderly transition, as has occurred every four years since 1792.”

But Trump’s reluctance to accept his defeat, and his enraged and false insistence on Saturday that he had in fact won raised questions about whether any high-ranking Republicans would be willing to contradict him.

Only a handful of grassroots Republicans, including some who will likely never face voters again, expressed their good wishes for Biden.

“It’s time to come together,” wrote Rep. Will Hurd, Republican of Texas, who is retiring. “The United States has spoken and we must respect the decision. More unites us than divides us; we can find common ground. I hope the president-elect can embody this. I wish him good luck and wish the president a successful few weeks. “

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and a frequent critic of Trump, also offered a traditional declaration of good wishes to the victor and was one of the few members of his party who referred to Biden by his new title.

“Ann and I extend our congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris,” he wrote on Twitter. “We know them both as people of good will and admirable character. We pray that God will bless you in the days and years to come. “

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski also directly congratulated Biden as president-elect, saying, “It appears that we will soon come to the peaceful transition of power, which is central to our system of democracy and ultimately honors the American people.” She added: “Honoring your choice of who leads has always defined us and is the source of our exceptionalism.”

But several Republicans who are considered rising stars in the party said any congratulations were premature, portraying the election results as a creation of the media and hinting at the possibility of legal action that could change them.

“The media cannot determine who the president is,” said Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley. “People do it. When all the legitimate votes have been counted, the recounts have been completed and the allegations of fraud have been addressed, we will know who the winner is. “

Senator Patrick Toomey, Pennsylvania, who announced his retirement, issued a statement congratulating both Trump and Biden on “running tough and energetic campaigns that have inspired record civic engagement.” But he said that given the closeness of the results, the Americans needed assurances that the elections were being “conducted with integrity.”

“Today’s media announcement of the election result is a screening,” Toomey said. “A final result will be reached when the election process is concluded, which is after all legal votes have been counted, the dispute has been resolved and the recounts have been completed.”

Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson, a contender for a leadership position in his party, said on Twitter that he called Trump and encouraged him to “Stay strong and keep fighting, sir!”

“The nation depends on your determination,” Johnson said he told the president. “We must exhaust all available legal remedies to restore the confidence of Americans in the fairness of our electoral system.”

Emily Cochrane c.2020 The New York Times Company